But, as you can see by this picture, it’s true… all those jars are different! It just makes sense. If I’m going to try my hand at canning (maybe next year?), I’ll spring for brand new ball jars and lids.

I tried out about a million different combinations for these, and they were all really good! For the base, I pretty much always do 1/2 cup of oats (sometimes give my husband more, about 3/4 cup), 2 tbsp. chia seeds, and 1-2 tbsp. flaxseed. Then I add in a sweetener, spices, dried fruit, seeds, nuts, etc. Then, all you have to do when you want to eat it is add hot water! I’ve made these at work with water from a Keurig, even! Stir and wait a couple of minutes, and then dig in!

Because I tried out so so many combinations, I felt like I needed to narrow it down a little, while still giving flavor options. So I came up with a beginner, intermediate and advanced. The beginner is also the cheapest, while the advanced will be most expensive. Feel free to try one, or all though, whether you are just starting on your healthy eating journey or if you are a health nut! I figured that pretty much everyone has oats and raisins, while the “advanced” uses ingredients that may not be in everyone’s cupboard, like goji berries, which are almost $20/lb, depending on where you get them.

A note about sweeteners: My preferred sweetener in these jars is date sugar, like this. I like it because it is simply dried ground up dates! In the Green Tea Goji, I felt the coconut sugar was better than date sugar because it helps with the slight bitterness from the matcha. You could try using stevia, or cane sugar. If you know you will have access to honey or maple syrup when you are going to eat these, then you can leave out the dry sweetener and just add it to taste after you add the hot water.

Where to buy? You should be able to find these at any healthfood store. Most mainstream grocery stores (at least near me!) have these ingredients, as well. I have seen all of these at Wegmans, and Trader Joe’s has many of these ingredients too. I even saw goji berries at Aldi!

As I mentioned, I get ingredients that I use a lot of through our local buying group, which saves me some money on oats, chia seeds, raisins, cranberries, and coconut sugar, and more. I also buy online because of convenience and price. Amazon Prime is helpful because of fast shipping, and no minimum order, and the prices beat the stores sometimes, like these organic goji berries.

If you like ordering online (I know my friends with kiddos say it is much easier!), Thrive Market is also worth looking into, it’s like an online BJ’s or Costco, but for natural and organic products. I have been a member for about a year and a half, and while you cannot do your complete shopping there (no fresh produce), it is so great for pantry items. Thrive beats the cheapest Amazon price (listed above) for goji berries. It’s the cheapest I’ve seen for many other products, like my favorite canned coconut milk, Purely Elizabeth granola, and even natural toothpaste and shampoo. They also added a lot of baby and kid products recently! In addition, they give back. For each friend that becomes a member, they will donate a membership to a low-income family. And, you get 15% off YOUR first order if you use my link (this also starts a 30 day trial membership to try it out, and you can cancel any time!) Check it out, here: http://thrv.me/pharmersarah

Need a healthy meal when you will be traveling? These oat jars are fantastic! They are shelf stable, so make them ahead, then all you need to do is add hot water when ready to consume. Delicious, nutritious, and convenient! 3 "levels," from most basic (beginner) and cheapest, to most different (advanced) and also pricier. Try one or try them all!

Ingredients

Beginner: Cinnamon Raisin ($)

½ cup oatmeal

2 tbsp. chia seeds

2 tbsp. flaxseed

1-2 tbsp. date sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp. raisins

1-2 tbsp. walnuts

Intermediate: Cranberry Hemp ($$)

½ cup oatmeal

2 tbsp. chia seeds

1 tbsp. flaxseed

3 tbsp. hemp hearts

2 tbsp. cranberries (I like naturally sweetened ones)

1-2 tbsp. date sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Advanced: Green Tea Goji ($$$)

½ cup oatmeal

2 tbsp. chia seeds

1 tbsp. flaxseed

2 tbsp. hemp hearts

2 tbsp. goji berries

1 tbsp. coconut sugar

½ tsp matcha

Instructions

Add ingredients in a pint mason jar or other jar.

Store in pantry until ready to take, or consume.

Before eating, mix in 1 to 1½ cups boiling or very hot water, depending on how thick you like it. (I usually use about 1¼ cups).

Enjoy!

Notes

I prefer date sugar for most of my oat jars, as it is just dried and ground up dates. If you prefer a sweeter oatmeal, use coconut sugar, maple sugar, or organic cane sugar. You may need less of these sweeteners than the date sugar. Or, if you know you will have access to quality honey or pure maple syrup, leave the sweetener out and add honey or syrup to taste.

3.5.3208

I’d love to hear from you! Do you have a great “travel” recipe? Leave me a comment, below!

We went crockpot crazy this week, using it three times! Moving forward into fall and winter, I am going to make sure I have at least one crockpot recipe every week. It’s so awesome to walk in the door and have dinner ready!

This particular recipe does require a little prep work in the morning (or afternoon if you are home and can put it on a 4 hour setting). It is so worth it though!

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and about 1 tsp of salt until translucent (about 5-7 minutes). Add the sweet potatoes and another 1 tsp of salt and sauté for another couple of minutes. Stir in spices, ginger, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in a 1/2 cup of broth and scrape pan to help get all the good stuff off the bottom of the pan, and pour mixture into large crockpot.

Add all other ingredients to crockpot, EXCEPT coconut milk and spinach. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Stir in coconut milk and spinach until wilted. Serve with lemon wedge, if desired. You can serve this on its own, or over rice or quinoa. Last time we ate this we had it with local organic sourdough toast! Delish!

My husband and I both love this recipe and it is definitely a regular in our rotation! The recipe was originally inspired by and adapted from this one. My version doesn’t have any added sugar, unlike a lot of curries. It has plenty of sweetness from sweet potato and apple, though.

I also think it’s great how big of a batch this makes. You will have enough to freeze some, share with friends, or have for lunches all week. Yes, please!

Hearty spiced vegetable curry made in the crockpot, with amazing richness and creaminess from coconut milk. Filling on its own, or can serve over brown rice or quinoa. Makes a really large batch, great to freeze or have as leftovers for lunch throughout the week!

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 medium sweet potatoes, diced

1 tbsp. salt

1 tbsp. curry powder

2 tsp turmeric powder

1 inch piece ginger, grated

3 cloves of garlic, minced

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

2 cups vegetable broth

3 cups cooked chickpeas, or 2 cans chickpeas (drained)

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 orange or red bell pepper, diced

2 apples, diced

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets

1 head broccoli, cut into florets

1 can (28 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes with their liquid

¼ tsp black pepper

1-2 large handfuls baby spinach

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Instructions

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.

Sauté the onion and about 1 tsp of salt until translucent (about 5-7 minutes).

Add the sweet potatoes and another 1 tsp of salt and sauté for another couple of minutes.

Stir in spices, ginger, and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Pour in a ½ cup of broth and scrape pan to help get all the good stuff off the bottom of the pan, and pour mixture into large crockpot.

Add all other ingredients to crockpot, EXCEPT coconut milk and spinach and lemon.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Stir in coconut milk and spinach about 5 minutes before serving.

Serve on its own, with optional lemon wedges, or over brown rice or quinoa. We also have been liking it with a buttered piece of local organic sourdough toast to dip in!

Is there anything easier than making a meal by just using your blender? Probably not. Which is one of the reasons I have a smoothie almost daily!

You will also need to turn on your oven, if you want to take this recipe to the next level with delicious potato “croutons,” which I highly recommend.

Besides it being SO EASY to make, another reason I love this gazpacho is that all the ingredients came from our garden. Hence, “garden gazpacho.” 😉 Beautiful large heirloom tomatoes, small sweet cherry tomatoes, a cucumber, a jalepeno (optional, what makes it spicy), a green pepper (feel free to use red if yours have ripened already!), onion, garlic. The rest of the ingredients are just a little lemon juice, and pantry staples… broth (I used homemade but feel free to use boxed broth ), olive oil, balsamic vinegar, hot sauce (optional, like the jalepeno, to give it a nice kick), ground cumin, and salt and pepper. We also got the potatoes for the topping from our garden.

One more reason to love this? You really don’t need a recipe! You can totally use the one below as just a guide. We were winging it, and it turned out good EVERY TIME. I usually blend the tomatoes first, then blend the rest of the ingredients, then fill the blender the rest of the way with broth. You will have one VERY full blender.

Such a perfect light meal or appetizer. Or, filling meal if you have it with piles and piles of potato croutons like I did, last time I made this!

Could there be an easier and healthier light meal to make? Perfect summer or last-days-of-summer recipe. Adding a jalepeno and hot sauce give this soup a spicy kick! Roasted croutons add delicious texture to this dish.

Ingredients

Gazpacho

2 large heirloom tomatoes

1 pint cherry tomatoes (or other small sweet tomatoes)

1 medium cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped

1 jalepeno (mostly seeded)

1 green pepper, rough chopped

½ sweet onion, rough chop

3 cloves of garlic

juice of ½ lemon

1 cup broth

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp hot sacue

2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1 tsp ground cumin

salt and pepper, to taste

Herbs like parsley or basil (optional, or for garnish)

Potato Croutons

3 medium potatoes

Instructions

Gazpacho

Blend tomatoes in high speed blender.

Add all other ingredients except broth and blend again.

Finally, add broth to the top of blender (was about 1 cup for us) and blend again until silky smooth.

Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Place in fridge to chill.

Potato croutons

Preheat oven to 400.

Chop potatoes into ½ inch pieces.

Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-35 minutes or until golden and crispy.

3.5.3208

I’d love to hear from you! Do you like gazpacho? Or, what is your favorite end-of-summer recipe? Let me know in the comments!

First, I was trying for a mint chocolate chip with mint from our garden. I’ve had success in the past using mint extract, like in this shake, but we have several kinds of mint taking over our garden and yard, so I wanted to incorporate real mint. I found that the flavor of coconut was a bit overpowering when I was using a little mint, and when I used a LOT of mint, the ice cream tasted too earthy. I actually staged and took pictures of the “final” version, but couldn’t bring myself to post it. Didn’t think it was “blog worthy” enough!

Then, I went for coffee ice cream, at my husband’s request. We had just made a big batch of cold brew coffee, so the first step, making strong coffee, was already done for me, woo hoo! Coffee ice cream time! No. We added way too much coffee, so it was more ice crystal-y than ice cream-y. The next time added less coffee and again, the coffee flavor seemed way too dilute, considering the coconut milk base.

I liked all of them, and we ate a lot of ice cream. Overall though, I decided I would just stick to banana ice cream. It’s easier (no ice cream maker needed!), cheaper (how cheap are bananas!), and healthier (I was adding natural sweeteners, either honey or maple syrup to my coconut ice creams, but still).

Then, a brilliant idea struck, as I was making both banana ice cream and making a double batch of my “famous” coconut oat cookies. Ice cream sandwiches!!!!!

So, that’s what happened. And I’m not even disappointed I didn’t have a “real” ice cream to go in it. These are SO. DARN. GOOD.

I’ll see you next summer, coconut milk and Ice Cream Maker. Until then, I’ll be eating these ice cream sandwiches!

Is there anything more refreshing than a pina colada on a hot summer day? Pina coladas from restaurants tend to be sickly sweet, and kind of tastes like sunscreen. Not exactly light and refreshing!

This smoothie is inspired by pina coladas, with the classic coconut and pineapple combo, but of course I added greens, making it a greena pina colada!

I think the secret to this is using an actual coconut. Sure… you could buy some coconut water or coconut milk in cartons or cans. But, I daresay it won’t be the same. If you haven’t tried young coconuts yet… this is me telling you, go get one! I bought this one at Wegmans. When we lived in NY’s Capital Region, we would get them from an Asian market. The one I tried stopping into since we moved to this area doesn’t carry them, though. It’s worth a shot to check because they tend to be cheaper at an Asian foods store than a regular grocery store.

Try not to chop your hand off. Thankfully, my accident-prone husband never did this when using a knife to cut them open. Since we use them pretty often in smoothies, we bought a Coco-Jack. Now I don’t have to worry when cracking them open!

Another tip to make this a GREAT smoothie, is make sure your pineapple is really ripe. I never find ripe ones at the store, so I buy one and let it ripen on my counter. When the kitchen starts smelling like sweet sweet pineapple, it’s ready to eat! The first time I made this it was with super sweet pineapple that had ripened on our counter, that I froze. The second time I made it was with frozen pineapple I bought from Trader Joe’s, and I didn’t like it quite as much! Still delish, but I noticed a difference.

Again, it depends on the pineapple a bit for sweetness, so try it as is. If you want it a bit sweeter (more like an actual pina colada vs a smoothie), add a frozen banana or a couple dates, or a Tbsp. of pure maple syrup.

Look how vibrant that color is! Partly because I added some turmeric 😉 . You don’t even taste it but there are tons of nutritional benefits! To read my post on turmeric, click here.

I’d love to hear from you! Have you tried young coconuts? What is your favorite way to use them? Leave me a comment, below!

They are tinted a little pink/red, but not from the strawberries. They get a little extra bright pink hue from… beet juice!

When toasted in the waffle iron, they turned more brown than I thought they would, but it’s still a fun addition if you have beets and a juicer. 😉 And infinitely more healthy than red food coloring!

These are so tasty, even my sister, who has an aversion to beets would like them! Ok, the beet thing might be the fault of her brother-in-law (my husband). While we were at a party one time, she commented about how she didn’t like beets, so my husband told her he would give her $10 to eat some of the pickled beets that were out. She tried and couldn’t finish it, and now her hate of beets is even stronger. But really, you can’t taste it AT ALL in these waffles!

And you can’t forget about the rhubarb compote! It’s just rhubarb boiled in syrup, and although it’s not very photogenic, it sure is delicious! Rhubarb, of course, pairs so well with anything strawberries!

Another great thing about this recipe is that it makes a huge batch. We end up having a ton to freeze, and then it’s so easy to pop them in the toaster oven for quick and easy breakfasts or snacks. We’ve been having them as the “bread” for egg sandwiches and it’s a very filling breakfast!

Hope you make these soon, with or without the beet juice, and let me know what you think!

These pink waffles get their color from strawberries, and secret ingredient beet juice. Heartier than typical waffles, these will keep you full! Delicious sweet flavor from the bananas and strawberries, and the rhubarb compote pairs with them perfectly as a decadent topping!

Ingredients

Compote:

2 Stalks Rhubarb

¾ Cup Maple Syrup

Waffles:

4 Cups Oat Flour

4 Tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 Cups Nut Milk

3 Large Bananas, Mashed

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Softened

Juice of 1 Beet, optional

12 Ounces Strawberries, Sliced or Chopped

Instructions

Compote:

Rinse rhubarb and chop into ½" chunks.

Combine rhubarb and syrup in a small saucepan.

Simmer on low until rhubarb is soft and mixture has thickened (~10-15 minutes)

Waffles:

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients, set aside.

In a separate bowl mash bananas with a fork or use an electric hand mixer. I like using the mixer because it will help whip in some air when everything is mixed together, this helps the batter stay fluffy. Add remaining wet ingredients and mix well.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and blend well. Mix thoroughly and quickly, the baking powder will effervesce and help the mixture rise. Once mixed quickly fold in the strawberries and let mixture rest for 5 minutes.

Beets are one of the foods that have really grown on me! I don’t think I had beets at all while growing up. And these are one of the foods that we didn’t try to grow this year, in our garden. So, when I saw some gorgeous beets and beet greens (you better not be throwing the greens away! You can sautee, use them in a soup, juice them, or put them in your green smoothie!) at the farmer’s market, I had to scoop some up!

One of my favorite way to eat beets is roasted with a little olive oil and salt until crispy, and they are like chips! The trick with that is getting them really thin. Another delicious way to include them in your diet is juicing them! I find beets go really well with carrots, and in this recipe I added some lemon (with peel!), green apple, and ginger, which all help to tone down the really earthy flavor that the beet has.

This tastes so good, approved by the whole family. The one caveat is, beet juice stains like crazy! I felt like I had to stand over my 2 year old the whole time she was drinking it.

Hope this inspires you to get our your juicer if it’s away in storage. You won’t be sorry!

(What juicer do I have? This one. The best juicer for YOU, though? The one you’re going to use!)

Berries, berries, berries! What a great time of year when berries are ripe off the bush! We picked strawberries from a local place a couple of weeks ago, and I had hopes of trying to make a strawberry chia jam, but we ended up eating them all, they were just too good! The owner of the farm told me that she had a truck driver that was bringing in strawberries from California for the big chain grocery stores, but he stopped and picked and ate HER berries, because there is just no comparison to the sweetness when they are picked at their peak. Plus, you’re supporting local!

Our strawberries that we planted didn’t do so well, the bed is now taken over with weeds and we are in a bit of a drought right now, which doesn’t help either! It’s our first year doing this much gardening though, so we figure everything won’t be perfect, we kind of just threw tons of plants in the ground and are experimenting with what works and what doesn’t, and will make changes for next year!

The raspberries and blackberries (technically ours are black raspberries I think), are amazing! I can’t take credit for them, unfortunately. 😉 They are established plants and there is a bountiful supply of fruit coming off of them. It does take a bit of work going through the prickers, but it is worth it! Caterina loves going out there with me everyday and picking them off the vine. I think she eats more picking them herself than she would if she had a bowl. I love that she’s learning where food comes from, too. This is missing for a lot of kids… Remember Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? Check out this clip: Potato or Tomato?

The previous home owner said it was “more berries than you can eat.” With our family, that isn’t the case! We aren’t having any problem eating them. When I got a decent haul, I hid them from Caterina 😉 and decided to try for a blog-worthy chia seed jam recipe. Kevin and I have been making chia jam for a couple of years now, just winging it after trying another blogger’s recipe once (I can’t even remember which one anymore!) I love that you can control the amount of sweetener, and use a natural one like maple syrup, and you don’t have to go through the whole canning process. Maybe next year we will try canning, but this makes a small jar and will stay good for up to two weeks, although I think we always go through it faster than that! You could also double it and freeze one jar.

This is just a great way to get more chia seeds in your diet, too! I’ve talked in this post about how they are a superfood, and I make a habit of adding them to my own diet in smoothies, on oatmeal, in raw cereal, and of course chia pudding. If you haven’t tried them yet, I don’t think you can go wrong with this simple black raspberry chia jam! My mom, who made and canned her own jam for years, tried my version and loved it!

I was really looking forward to trying to experiment with black bean brownies this week… until our air conditioner broke. What to do instead, since it was WAY too hot to turn on the oven? No-bake brownies! And why are they “superfood?” Well, because I tried to pack as many superfoods in them as I could!

What is a superfood? Well, the term “superfood” has no set scientific definition. Basically, I think of a superfood as something that really packs a nutrient-dense punch. The following brownie ingredients are what I’m considering superfoods:

Have long been associated with longevity in China (and modern research confirms that certain oils in the berries increase your production of human growth hormone… no other plant has been shown to have this effect on hormones!)

The superfoods are great, obviously, but the other ingredients in these brownies aren’t half-bad, either. 😉 Walnuts, coconut, oats, dates, vanilla, salt and water. Say what? No sugar? Nope! These are naturally sweetened with fruit. And you don’t even have to turn on your oven!

Add all other ingredients (except topping ingredients) and process until a thick dough has formed. (Scrape down sides as necessary).

Press dough into an 8x8 glass baking dish until flat and smooth. Set aside.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler until smooth. Spread over brownie base, and sprinkle with goji berries and cacao nibs.

Store in refrigerator for up to a week, or the freezer for a couple of months.

Notes

*Raw cacao has many health benefits, whereas cocoa powder is stripped of 90% of its nutrients. If cocoa (not cacao) is all you have on hand, you can use that, but it just wouldn't be quite as healthy 😉

3.5.3208

I’d love to hear from you! Do you include superfoods in your diet? What is your favorite no-bake treat? Leave me a comment, below!

Is there anything better than raw veggies in the summer? What about having a great dip to serve with them!

This recipe is inspired by a local company, Ithaca Hummus. I had been making the same hummus flavors over and over, like roasted garlic, and roasted red pepper, which were delicious, but I was totally ready to try something new after I bought their Lemon & Dill Hummus. So fresh and different from my usuals! Plus, the dill in our garden was growing great, so I had to go for it!

I used white beans (instead of chickpeas) in this recipe, which I cooked from scratch, so I think that added another layer of flavor. I would not hesitate to use a can of Organic Great Northern Beans though, if that’s what I had on hand. My version also has a toned-down lemon flavor, opposed to the really bright lemon flavor in the Ithaca Hummus, so feel free to increase the lemon juice if you are feeling that!

Any vegetables would go great as dippers, but I really liked the cucumbers with this. There is something so classic about cucumbers and dill together!

Really easy, too. Combine all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. You’ll be snacking in no time!

A fresh and bright hummus for your vegetables, with great lemon and dill flavors. Extra creaminess from the white beans as opposed to classic chickpea hummus. Pairs great with cucumbers, or any raw veggies! Happy dipping!

Ingredients

1¼ cup cooked white beans

2 tbsp tahini (I used roasted, organic, salt-free)

2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup chopped dill

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp water

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in food processor.

Process until smooth.

Garnish with a couple of beans, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprig of dill.